Like a metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) a tunnel FET (TFET) has a source connected to a drain by a channel. The source and drain of a TFET, however, have an opposite polarity from one another. TFETs function by modulating tunneling through a barrier. TFETs advantageously have the potential to enable ultra-low power electronics because the subthreshold swing can go below 60 mV/decade (which is a fundamental limit of MOSFETs).
There are two requirements for TFETs to operate. One is uniform control of source side junction electrostatic for abrupt turn-on, and the other is a source-side hetero-junction (source) to reduce the tunneling barrier for increased drive current. A vertical gate-all-around (GAA) device architecture can satisfy both of these requirements and therefore is an ideal configuration for TFETs.
Thus, techniques for implementing a TFET in a vertical GAA architecture would be desirable.